If you got ears, you gotta hear....

Having finally succeeded in alienating his entire band over the
recording of the Unconditionally Guaranteed album; and much of his
following with the subsequent ill-advised tour and the ill-conceived Blue
Jeans and Moonbeams album; by 1974 Don Van Vliet's career had reached
an all-time low.

He had fallen-out with yet another record label (Mercury) since allegedly
the whole of the Blue Jeans and Moonbeams album was made up of out-takes
from the previous record and rough-takes onto which instruments had been
overdubbed. The instrumental "Captain's Holiday" in particular was not
written by Don or indeed by any of the band members and was recorded on
the record company's instructions without his knowledge. The finished product
was then released without Don's approval, in a manner strangely reminiscent
of what had happened with the earlier Mirror Man and Strictly
Personal releases. Don has subsequently disowned both of the albums
that he recorded for Mercury!

As a consequence of all this, Don found himself in the by-now-familiar
position of being almost irretrievably tied up by more of the legal problems
that dogged so much of his career. Of course these legal problems are the
reason why he has left such a relatively small and fragmented legacy of
recorded work and why it has thus far been impossible for any one record
label to compile anything approaching a definitive or representative compilation
of his career highlights.

Unable to tour or record in his own name, Don agreed to participate
in the 1975 Bongo Fury tour with his childhood friend Frank Zappa,
which resulted in the album of the same name credited to Zappa / Beefheart
/ Mothers. Following this, later the same year he assembled a new
line-up of the Magic Band. This featured two former members of the Magic
band whom he was able to entice back: drummer John "Drumbo" French (who
had left the Magic Band in 1974 with Mark "Rockette Morton" Boston and
Bill "Zoot Horn Rollo" Harkleroad to form Mallard) and guitarist Elliott
"Winged Eel Fingerling" Ingber. To them he added two musicians whom he
had worked with on the Bongo Fury tour: guitarist Denny Walley and
trombonist Bruce Fowler. This band toured the UK, Europe and the
USA during the last quarter of 1975. Ingber subsequently left to
be replaced on guitar by Jeff Morris Tepper and Bruce Fowler's trombone
was replaced by keyboard player John Thomas. It was this line-up which
recorded the album Bat Chain Puller between February and April 1976.

At this point, Don fell victim to yet another difficult legal situation
although on this occasion not of his own making. In May 1976, Zappa
dismissed his manager Herb Cohen after 10 years and began legal proceedings
against him, stating that Cohen and his lawyer brother had been stealing
money from him and that part of this money had been used to fund the Bat
Chain Puller recordings. According to Frank: "One of the things that
I argued with Herbie was because he used my royalty cheques to pay for
the production costs of Beefheart's album". This contradicts the
widely held belief that it was in fact Zappa who produced the album; Zappa
insists that Don produced the album himself with the help of Zappa's engineer
from One Size Fits All, Kerry McNabb.

In the protracted legal wrangling that ensued, Frank claimed (and eventually
won) legal title to the Bat Chain Puller recordings on the basis
that he had paid for them; albeit without his knowledge and consent.
In the meantime however, someone (presumably Herb Cohen) had sent a copy
of the album to Virgin, presumably in an attempt to get the album released
in the UK. It would appear that Virgin were interested and sent copies
out for review. These are believed to be the source of the bootleg versions
of the album. As a consequence of the legal problems that existed
at the time, this album has never received an official release and rumours
of an impending issue continue to surface periodically to this day.

In fact the majority of the contents of the album did eventually see
the light of day, albeit in re-recorded form, on the three subsequent albums.
The track listing for this album (with details of the subsequent albums
on which the tracks would eventually appear in parentheses) is as follows:

"Bat Chain Puller" (Shiny Beast)

"Seam Crooked Sam" (basically a poem with a typical Magic Band instrumental
backing of interweaving guitars, this track has never been officially released)

"Harry Irene" (Shiny Beast)

"Poop Hatch" (Ice Cream For Crow)

"A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond" (Doc At The Radar
Station)

"Brickbats" (Doc At The Radar Station)

"Floppy Boot Stomp" (Shiny Beast)

"Flavour Bud Living" (Doc At The Radar Station)

"Carson City" (re-titled Owed T'Alex when included on Shiny Beast)

"Odd Jobs" (a pleasantly restrained number, with Don slipping from his
poetry reciting voice into a gentle croon over a restrained but angular
backing which inexplicably was not included in any of the subsequent albums)

"1010th Day Of The Human Totem Pole" (Ice Cream For Crow)

"Apes Ma" (Shiny Beast)

During the following two years the Magic Band continued to be subject to
the usual personnel upheavals. Don and Drumbo had another of their
periodic fallings-out (Don's behaviour frequently created conflicts with
John's Christian beliefs) and the vacant drum-stool was temporarily filled
by Jerry Jaye. Eric Drew Feldman replaced John Thomas as keyboard player.
He, along with Jeff Morris Tepper was to survive until the Magic Band was
finally disbanded in 1982. This line up completed a tour of the USA
towards the end of 1976. John French subsequently returned for more
US dates during 1977, before being replaced by Robert Williams prior to
a series of dates in Canada, Europe and USA around the end of 1977 and
the beginning of 1978.

Around this time Don also recorded a song which had been written by
Jack Nitzche for the soundtrack of the film BLUE COLLAR. This song, Hard
Working Man, is a really hard-driving blues number with a steam-hammer
beat and features an excellent performance from Don. The backing band for
this included Milt Holland and former Magic Band member Ry Cooder.

In 1978 Richard Redus replaced Denny Walley. Bruce Fowler also
returned to fill out the band prior to recording Shiny Beast, and
his distinctive trombone was to play a significant part in creating a very
different feel from the original recording of Bat Chain Puller.
It was this line-up of Jeff Morris Tepper, Eric Drew Feldman, Robert Williams,
Richard Redus and Bruce Fowler which was to follow Don into the studio
during the Summer and Autumn of 1978 to record Shiny Beast.
In addition, Art "Ed Marimba" Tripp (a former member of the Mothers, who
had left the Magic Band with the others who formed Mallard in 1974) was
to return to play on certain tracks in the studio, although he did not
participate in the subsequent US tour.

Comments made by Don on a live recording made at My Father's Place in
New York at around this time indicate that Don in fact wanted to call the
album Bat Chain Puller, rather than Shiny Beast. However
the legal situation regarding the earlier recordings prevented him from
doing so. In fact the sleeve gives the name as Shiny Beast (Bat Chain
Puller). This has led to the situation whereby this album is alternatively
referred to by either name, which creates confusion with what has subsequently
come to be known as the Original Bat Chain Puller album!

The name Shiny Beast in fact comes from the song "Dirty Blue
Gene": "The shiny beast of thought: if you got ears, you just gotta listen".
This would have been so wonderfully appropriate were it not for the fact
that although "Dirty Blue Gene" was recorded for this album, it was not
included in the final track list and in fact didn't surface until the next
album, Doc At The Radar Station!

This was not the first time that this sort of thing had happened however:
the title track of the first Captain Beefheart album, Safe As Milk,
was not included on that album but on the later Strictly Personal.
It is not beyond the realms of possibility that this was done in a deliberate
attempt to emulate Frank Zappa's obsession with creating links between
recordings from different eras of his career by returning to pick up threads
which had been dropped in earlier recordings. It is equally possible it
was an oversight!

From the opening moment of "Floppy Boot Stomp," it is clear that this
was Don back on form and an incarnation of the Magic Band which was once
more truly worthy of the name. The band and Don all come crashing straight
in together on the first note and there is no turning back. The vocals
are impassioned, like a preacher of fire and brimstone, narrating the tale
of a farmer dancing to escape the devil burning his feet; a lyric that
clearly betrays Don's blues roots. The song ends with the band chanting
"Floppy boot / stomped down / into the ground" over and over again.

Next up is "Tropical Hot Dog Night." The title is rhymed with the gleefully
alliterative Lewis Carroll nonsense "Like two flamingos in a fruit fight."
The combination of Bruce Fowler's trombone with Artie Tripp's marimbas
and a shuffling hi-hat gives an almost calypso, Mardi Gras feel, over which
Don cheerfully confides that "I'm playing this music so the young girls
will come out and meet the monster tonight". Don was clearly eager to show
the ladies his "Shiny Beast"!

"Ice Rose" is an instrumental track, a re-invention of the earlier "Big
Black Baby Shoes" which was remaindered from the sessions which produced
Mirror Man and Strictly Personal more than a decade earlier.
The prominent trombone has the effect of making this track very reminiscent
of Frank Zappa.

"Harry Irene" is a fine example of Don's more "commercial", crooning
side. This is a side of Captain Beefheart that is frequently overlooked
because of the impact of his more outré material, however Don had frequently
displayed a penchant for straightforward "pop" tunes before. Examples of
this abound, from "Call On Me" on Safe As Milk (and particularly
the unreleased slow version from those sessions) to "Too Much Time" on
Clear Spot as well as any number of songs on the much-maligned Unconditionally
Guaranteed album. This track also includes some fine examples of Don's
characteristic mischievous word play: of which my favourite is the line
"They sold wine like turpentine to painters" which simultaneously expresses
both the quantity and the quality of the house white! Don croons like a
renegade Sinatra and the music is a deliberately corny combination of ham-fisted
piano with brushes on the snare and hi-hat. The song ends with Don whistling
the refrain in a manner reminiscent of Otis Redding on "Dock of the Bay."

The lyric sheet insert that accompanied the album simply states that
the lyrics to "You Know You're A Man" are "self explanatory" and much the
same is true of the music. It is a pretty straightforward piece of fairly
funky blues-rock, with Don really letting rip on the vocals over the top.
In keeping with the new atmosphere of mutual respect in the band, each
musician in turn gets his turn at a brief solo during the song.

The last track on the first side of the album is "Bat Chain Puller."
As well as being the title track of the unreleased album and the unofficial
title of this one, this is the undoubted highlight of the album. Despite
his ecological concerns, Don was always a great lover of cars and this
song was apparently inspired by the sound of the wipers on his windscreen.
Robert Williams and Eric Drew Feldman recreate this sound over which Don
alternates between an almost whispered delivery and contrasting impassioned
howls. Jagged barbs of guitar periodically illuminate the scene like flashes
of lightning and the keyboard emulates sweeping sheets of rain. What is
more, if the performance here is awesome then some of the live recordings
from this period make this seem positively restrained by comparison!

The second side of the album opens with "When I See Mommy I Feel Like
a Mummy." Don's mother was an important figure in Don's life and
references to her appear in several of his lyrics. Like "Old 'Fart At Play"
on Trout Mask Replica there are unmistakable Oedipus nuances to
these words and he seems be expressing resentment of a lack of maternal
interest. This is rather strange since we are led to believe that if anything
Don enjoyed a rather indulged childhood, so how much autobiographical content
should be construed is questionable. The music is brooding and menacing
and dominated by the strains of Fowler's mournful trombone. As the song
reaches its climax, the band are all chanting "Mummy, mummy, mummy" in
the background, like a ghostly chorus of clamouring infants.

Writing credits for the next song, "Owed T'Alex," are shared with Herb
Bermann, a poet / songwriter with whom Don had been associated during the
late sixties. This seems to suggest that this is a very old song indeed,
probably dating back to the Safe As Milk era. In this case it would
appear likely that the Alex in question could well be former guitarist
Alex St. Claire Snouffer. If so, it would not be the first time a member
of the Magic Band had been immortalised in lyrical form: for example the
song "Bill's Corpse" on Trout Mask Replica was about Zoot Horn Rollo.
However the angular guitar lines and tumbling drum patterns are more reminiscent
of later work, so perhaps this was the fruit of a later collaboration.
Whatever the provenance of the song, the harmonica solo at the end is without
doubt one of Don's finest.

"Candle Mambo" has a similar feel to "Tropical Hot Dog Night" and I
would imagine that it was recorded at the same time. Artie's marimbas are
once again very much in evidence and combine with the trombone to give
a sultry almost Latin feel. The tune itself is upbeat and refreshingly
simple and there is an irresistibly romantic feel as Don sings in his most
seductive voice "When I'm dancing with my love, the shadows flicker up
above, up above the shadows do the Candle Mambo."

By comparison, "Love Lies" changes the proportions of the ingredients
in this rich musical gumbo to produce a wailing lament for lost love as
Don sings plaintively from the depths of a shattered heart as the "Street
lights flutter like fireflies" and the guitar flickers with them.

"Suction Prints" is far more like the Captain Beefheart of Lick My
Decals Off, Baby: a punchy instrumental which allows the band to really
let rip over a driving drum beat, which breaks off into some classic Magic
Band musical diversions before returning to the central theme. This is
the track that really gives Robert Williams a chance to shine: the drum
patterns are truly inspired, unorthodox and executed with just the right
combination of feeling and precision.

The final track of the album is the poem "Apes-Ma." Don has been recorded
as explaining that this poem concerns a female gorilla in a local zoo that
he visited so regularly she came to recognise him. Apparently Don loved
this ape "like a mother" and she was the love of his life - until he met
his wife Jan. I am strangely inclined to dismiss this as just another
instance of Don indulging in another of his favourite pastimes - recreational
journalist baiting! It appears to me that this is simply an extended
metaphor on a topic which was a long standing beef of 'Fart's, which he
has discussed in many interviews and explored in many of his lyrics. Mankind
is just another creature, descended from the apes (so "Ape is Ma"). However
we consume a disproportionate portion of the world's resources ("You're
eating too much....") and pollute the planet (.... and going to the bathroom
too much....") because we are so overpopulated ("Your cage isn't getting
any bigger, Apes Ma"). Well, at least this explanation seems a bit more
likely than the idea of Don falling for a monkey does!

Don's relationship with the musicians who were in his band at this time
seems to have been more relaxed than was the case with previous incarnations
of the Magic Band. What is more, these new younger guys were in many ways
more accomplished musicians than their predecessors were. I can hear
some sharp intakes of breath at this heresy: followed by the sounds of
knives being sharpened and guns being loaded so I think I ought to qualify
that last statement very, very quickly....

It is certainly not my intention to detract in any way from the achievements
of Zoot Horn Rollo, Rockette Morton, Drumbo and the other musicians responsible
for creating the Captain Beefheart albums of the late '60's and early '70's.
They were responsible for carving a startling new aural sculpture out of
previously featureless rock, giving substance to the vision that Don was
simultaneously struggling to communicate since there were no words to adequately
describe what it was that he was trying to create. Without always fully
understanding what they were doing, why they were doing it or where they
were going until they got there, those musicians drove back barriers and
set the standards for others to follow.

It is certainly far more difficult to create than to copy. As the standards
are continually revised, each successive generation of young musicians
is expected to assimilate the technical achievements of its predecessors.
In this way, what constituted exceptional musicianship for one generation
rapidly becomes the accepted norm. of the next and of course this is equally
true of many other areas of human endeavour. I cannot express this
concept more eloquently than to quote legendary axe-man Vim Fuego of notorious
rockers Bad News when he said "I could play Stairway to Heaven when I was
seventeen, Jimmy Page didn't write it 'til he was twenty-six. I think that
says a lot"!

The new band had a better understanding of what the music was about
and had an example to follow; not least because so many of the songs released
on this album and it's successors had originally been written and demo'd
before even the Bat Chain Puller recordings. In fact, much of the
music on this and the two subsequent albums was originally written during
Don's incredibly prolific period in the late '60's and early '70's. Early
versions of "Harry Irene," "When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy," "Candle
Mambo" and "Love Lies" are to be found amongst outtakes from the albums
recorded for Reprise and the origins of "Ice Rose" can be traced back further
still.

With the exception of "Old Hat" Fowler, these were young musicians who
were fans of Beefheart's music and had been learning to play it long before
they joined the band. They manage to make the music flow naturally despite
some of the unusual rhythmic structures and arrangements: rather than jerking
slightly awkwardly and mechanically as the previous bands sometimes tended
to do with the more demanding material. As Don explained in an interview
at the this time; "There's one thing about them - they won't work, which
is fantastic! My other groups, in the past, have fallen into work patterns...
These guys just play; it ain't work to them. I'm in Seventh Heaven".

Despite the long gap since his last album release, interest in Captain
Beefheart and the Magic Band was running high by this time. The explosion
of punk rock in the UK was still reverberating around the globe and this
created an enthusiasm for experimentation and innovation and an audience
more sympathetic to Captain Beefheart. Indeed he was cited as a major influence
by many influential figures at the time. Not least amongst these was John
Lydon, who had in fact appropriated lumps of both lyrics and tune from
"Big Eyed Beans From Venus" when he composed the Sex Pistols' paean to
their former record label, "EMI"!

However legal problems would once again contrive to snatch defeat out
of the jaws of victory. Although the album was released in the USA
in 1979, Virgin disputed Warner Bros.' right to issue it in the UK and
in fact obtained an injunction to prevent them from doing so. By the time
this had been resolved and Virgin eventually released the album in the
UK in 1980, import sales had destroyed any potential impact it might have
had on the UK charts, which of course would have helped to generate more
interest.

In the absence of a definitive Best Of... Compilation, I would
humbly suggest that Shiny Beast represents the perfect starting
point for any newcomer to the music of Captain Beefheart. It manages to
demonstrate all the facets of his musical vision, from bizarre time signatures
to more straightforward "pop" songs. Many of his favourite lyrical topics
are explored, combined with his typically mischievous word-play and the
full capacity of his voice, both in terms of his extraordinary octave range
and the different musical styles he uses it for.

Above all it manages to be relatively accessible without being flawed
by excessive compromise. By comparison, his accepted masterpiece, Trout
Mask Replica is extremely inaccessible and it requires several listens
to overcome the initial shock of its aural assault and begin to assimilate
the contents. On the other hand, it is certainly true that repeated exposure
to Trout Mask Replica pays huge dividends and indeed it bears more
repeated listening than any other album I know.

Shiny Beast was the album that witnessed Don's return to form,
which he maintained over the later albums Doc At The Radar Station
and Ice Cream For Crow, until he lamentably retired from the music
world in 1982 to concentrate on his other more lucrative career as a painter.

Sincere thanks are due to Frank Keegan and Steve Froy for their invaluable
assistance in researching this article and to Graham Johnston, guardian
of The Radar Station; a web-site
dedicated to the music and art of Don Van Vliet; from which so much material
and inspiration has been derived.